The Power of the Pen to Inspire

It was just a few weeks ago when the telephone rang in the middle of the day and on the other end was the voice of my former longtime radio colleague Rick “The Bear” Wile. “So how do you like sleeping in bud?” hequeried. Without a second of hesitation, I had to admit that my body clock was still at work and after nearly thirty years of anchoring the morning news on CHNL, my inner alarm was still going off at 3 am. Only now, the middle of the night trip to the washroom is to relieve the bladder insteadof having a shower. As some of you may know, my NL Radio days ended on June 5th. The new ownership had a different vision that didn’t include myself, Rick and Peter Olsen. Times change. But back to my conversationwith Bear. He had a proposal to take up my time which over the past month has been less than successful when it comes to completing that ever-presenthoney do list. To my credit, I did clean out a cupboard to my wife’s amazement or horror. But domestic chores and me don’t really get along well and don’t think for a moment that gourmet meals await my wife of 38years as she returns home from work each day. When it comes to culinary skills, I only make one thing well. Reservations. Peter Olsen’s kitchen skills were always a sore point with me…but we’ll save that for later. Rick’s suggestion was this column in this wonderful new look Kamloops Echo. The Bear’s thinking was that after so many years of following the day to day current events surrounding this wonderful region, how could I help but not stay in touch if only at arm’s length. The powers that be have left it largely up to me to decide what to write each week. While the public side ofmy radio life came through the speaker, I have always loved words. The power of the pen to inspire thought and debate. And that is what I hope to produce. My intention is to keep this space primarily local with a little bitof attitude mixed in to keep it interesting. I will also count on hearing from you. During my time on NL, it was always about the listener. That mentality doesn’t change here. I will welcome your opinions however wrong they may be. Our intention is to review past events and preview future happenings. Nothing is off limits except hate. And sadly, we’ve seen plenty of that in our community of late. Of course, we also have a civic election fast approaching. Several changes are on the way. And here is a little scoop for you. Former MLA Kevin Krueger is a safe bet to run for a council seat again after falling short in last September’s byelection while recently elected councilor Ray Dhaliwal is leaning heavily toward bowingout of civic politics as a result of demands related to his growing business. While on the topic of civic matters, the jawboning is far from finished when it comes to the actions of councillors Singh, Dudy, Lange, Walsh and Cavers. As you’ve likely heard by now, the quirky quintet have used their platform in civic politics to urge you to support Proportional Representation in a mail-in vote to be held October 22 to November 30th. Was the councilor’s appeal an abuse of power and influence peddling or proper civic involvement in a provincial debate?So many issues, so many debates. Thank you for listening, thank you for reading.